The 'Cyber Elf Wars' Code by X
by Ikedawg43
Summary: As Zero lay dying, he finally remembers everything and makes sense of X's actions. X had always known that something would go wrong, and set up an elaborate contingency plan should things fail: Zero IS that failsafe. The Resistance, The Guardians, Ceil... they were all pawns in X's backup plan. But as fate and irony would hold it, Zero realizes that they came to mean much more.


"The 'Cyber Elf Wars' Code" by X

Author's Note: Alright, so late one night my best friend and I stayed up way too late talking about our favorite video game series—The Megaman Zero Series. Eventually, we came up with this idea that for some reason the Guardians didn't want to actually kill Zero because X had programmed them not to.

So naturally, my friend went on with his life and I did some research into Zero's past (I haven't played anything earlier than MMZ). I've worked our theory into this one-shot, told from the perspective of a dying—but enlightened—Zero after crashing to earth with Ragnarok.

So here it is:

It was something I said, actually, that made me realize what he did. During my fight with Copy X, I remembered something about the real X: 'he's not as naïve as you' is what I more or less told Copy X. I didn't fully remember _why_ I knew that, but it was true nonetheless; X was _not_ naïve. He had learned from the many examples that lay before him, and the Cyber Elf Wars solidified his beliefs.

Of course, _now_ that my body lay in ruins, I finally remember everything. I remember believing that my job was finished—that Mavericks would no longer haunt the world—and that I could purge myself of any traces of the virus. 100 years of diagnostics and slumber: that was the plan. But things didn't go according to plan. Somewhere in there, a threat so great arose that X needed my help.

Dr. Weil was the foremost technician and creator of Reploids at the time—a scientific mind with almost no parallel—and ever since the Maverick virus was thought to be eradicated his work was free from scrutiny. No one knew what he was planning; not even the Reploid he started working with.

X brought Weil along to help him with a pet project of X's: building new 'Megamen' Reploids like X. Although X is the original Reploid—and like me, is outdated but still superior—Dr. Light's ingenuity in X's design is the only thing that over-shadow's Weil's mind. While other Reploids have the capability to override Asimov's laws—a loophole that was exploited by the Maverick virus—X wasn't capable of that. X's mind was so complicated, the code in his operating system was so unique, that he could think independently but still had subconscious urges to protect humans. Hidden deep within his code, X had a directive that prevented him from being naïve; in order to protect humanity, X couldn't allow misplaced trust to cost lives. X was the only one who could recreate such complicated code, so he employed Weil to create the new Reploids then after Weil finished, X went behind his back to alter their code.

Unfortunately, Weil also went behind X's back and created a copy of my resting body. In order to fool X and further complicate his plan, Weil transferred my consciousness to the copy and uploaded his own file into the still-sleeping body. He then locked up my copy-body in an underground, hidden facility next to where he usually worked.

The next step of Weil's plan was simple: start a massive war. It wasn't difficult; once he got his hands on the Mother Elf and altered her into the Dark Elf, he revived the threat of the Maverick virus. Although the actual virus was eradicated, he could use the Dark Elf to control thousands of Reploids and force them to attack humans. He attacked only specific targets designed to stir the humans into arms against themselves, and eventually the world was split into two sides. It wasn't originally Humans vs Reploids, it was left against right: no alliances between races, only between like-minded individuals. Exactly how Weil wanted it.

Thinks got ugly _fast_ , and X decided that he needed to bring me back—unfortunately, this was the last step in Weil's plan. X awoke 'Zero' from his slumber, only for 'Zero' to go rogue and join Weil, just like Weil had intended. A few days later, Weil unveiled Omega, which was the Original Zero modified with armor to withstand war. It was also massive. To top that off, Omega was combined with the Dark Elf. Within two weeks, nearly one third of the world's combined population—human and Reploid—was wiped out, and things were only going to get worse.

Governments collapsed. Panic spread. Weil found very little resistance, and all X could do was unite what Reploids and Humans that he could in one place.

Then the last part of Weil's plan was set into motion. All of the Reploids on Weil's side were released from the Dark Elf's control and they left to join X, leaving Weil in charge of a vast army of only humans. And that's when I was awoken. I woke up and found a world in chaos—I still had my memories—and was presented with two sides. One side led by Weil and Omega, and had all of the humans. Weil planned on my joining the humans' side, but my gut told me to side with X.

Weil was furious, and now that I had chosen against him, he repossessed the Reploids he had earlier released. This was the first part of Weil's plan that hadn't gone his way. Both sides were, at that point, equal: we had some humans and a lot of Reploids, and Weil had lots of humans and some Reploids; Omega was pretty much equal to X and I.

And that's when X decided to activate his Guardians. On the eve of the largest confrontation in Earth's history, the Four Guardians were born. Loyal to a fault, these Guardians were given control of some forces and told to engage the enemy while X and I went to face Omega and Weil.

And so they did. Sage Harpuia successfully led a rather thin air-force against Weil's quickly-but-masterfully crafted Air-Battle Reploids. Following Harpuia's lead, the air forces came out nearly unscathed despite a 4:1 ratio disadvantage. Fairy Leviathan led a small but powerful aquatic attack on the only remaining Nuclear Weapons Silo, hidden far beneath the ocean. Leviathan was the only survivor on either side, but the facility and its weapons were neutralized. Fighting Fefnir lead the bulk of X's forces in a ground strike against Weil's frontlines that wound up as the largest battle in history. When the dust cleared, there were very few people still able to fight, and Fefnir was leading them. Finally, Hidden Phantom used Fefnir as a distraction to lead a sneak attack on Weil's weapon depots. This distracted Weil's elite response forces and allowed Zero and X to attack Weil and Omega directly; it was a distraction behind another distraction.

It was an extreme struggle, but we defeated Omega and had Weil at the end of my blade. However, X decided that killing an unarmed _human_ —as opposed to the humans who had fought in the war—was an evil that no Reploid should be allowed to perform.

So Weil and X were exiled into outer space, or so the general public was told. The ship was actually a container, and once in space the inside of the ship would be sent into a void dimension. I still don't know how Weil and Omega came back from that.

And some _idiot_ decided Weil should have to live indefinitely in his punishment, so he was given basically a Reploid's body.

And from there, X's learned to never be naïve again. Trusting humans was now something he wouldn't do. He simply couldn't afford it. Instead of returning to my sleep capsule, X decided that I should be hidden from the world for fear of Weil's plot being copied by anyone else. I was secretly returned to the underground facility that Weil created, and guarded by traps that would last until I awoke on my own.

X then decided that the four Guardians weren't ready for the world: they were born into a war against humans and Reploids, and X wanted to make sure that they would never harm humans. But around this time X realized that no government could ever be trusted fully; not even Neo Arcadia, which was created by X himself. And so that is when X created the "Cyber Elf War" code that was implemented into the Guardians. In addition to the special code that also guided X, the Guardians were given a very complex and occasionally contradictory set of codes that would dictate their actions towards me. Should the Guardians ever face off against me, they would not kill me even should they have the opportunity. Somewhere deep inside, the Guardians would always protect me without ever consciously thinking about it. For the most part, the code was unused—seeing as I never had a problem with fighting them—but there was one instance when Harpuia saved me. I was lying in the wilderness and would have died on my own, but for some reason Harpuia decided to save me and take me to the Resistance. He risked his life, reputation, and honor to save me against all reason; I doubt that he could even guess why he did it. That's the power of the Cyber Elf War code.

But why would he need that code? Just in case is what X decided. X created Neo Arcadia as a post-war haven where humans and Reploids would live in peace, but feared that someday it would grow into more. So I was his greatest failsafe. Neo Arcadia was built near and even around the area where I slept, yet X ensured that no one would find me. As Neo Arcadia's leader, he ensured that I would be safe until I awoke. If it ever looked like Neo Arcadia had grown oppressive or evil, X would allow me to be awoken early in the hopes that I would set things right.

And that did happen. X's plans were put on the backburner when he finally captured the Dark Elf. Deep, deep within Neo Arcadia's most heavily guarded sector, the Dark Elf was sealed away. But that wasn't good enough; her power was so great, that X used himself as the seal. Close proximity to the Dark Elf warped X's soul until it, too, was a cyber elf.

And the rest is well-known now, though not entirely. Ceil, a promising and brilliant young scientist, was brought in to create Copy X. Despite her talents, she couldn't come close to Dr. Light's original programming, and Copy X was doomed to fail. The Guardians were loyal to Copy X, and when the energy crisis hit things took a turn for the fascist.

X was horrified, and decided that the time had come to release me—ironically, only about four months before I would have been awoken automatically and with full memories. He discretely leaked 'rumors' about my location to Ceil, along with non-redacted reports of what was really going on. In addition to that, he accessed Neo Arcadia's main computer system and made sure that the weakest Extermination Units were sent after influential or powerful Reploids; heck, he even sent some Units after people who hadn't done a thing, just to stir up their resentment. In a way, X created the Resistance; the icing on the cake was his pigeonholing of a promising young Reploid in Neo Arcadia's army. This Reploid was aspiring to a position of command and had extreme potential, but X kept him as a lowly messenger for too long. Eventually, Elpizo grew resentful of Neo Arcadia's leadership and applied himself to the Resistance.

And that's all it took. Like that, the table was set. Ceil released me, and I took out Neo Arcadia just like I was supposed to. A failsafe like no other: just oppose the most destructive force left.

X thought that he could rest after that, but the _one_ thing he couldn't have planned for—Weil's return—came to pass. And X's original failsafe took care of that, too.

It all makes sense now. X wasn't heavily involved during Elpizo's decent to madness atop the Resistance, because it didn't concern him. He was confident in my abilities. But when Weil and Omega returned, he had to be more active; Weil actually posed a threat, both then and now.

I wonder what else we could have done to limit the damage Weil caused. I mean, what else _could_ we do? Weil had the advantage the first time, and it was fortunate that I joined X instead of siding with Weil. Even then, with both X and I in our prime, over half of the world was wiped out. It was something ridiculous like 90% of all Reploids and over half of all humans died in that war.

We tried, didn't we? Weil had the Dark Elf, so used thousands of elves of our own to counteract that. X and I personally raided an energy storehouse just to power the elves we took into that final battle. What else could we have done?

And then with Weil's return, was there anything we could have done extra? We killed Omega, but lost the Guardians in the process. Weil acted like a madman and this time we weren't fooled, yet he still controlled the largest army left on earth. He blew up one of his own residential districts just to acquire the Dark Elf. And then Ragnarok…well, that wasn't pretty. He baited Craft into destroying Neo Arcadia with that laser—killing an uncountable amount of Humans and Reploids—because he could survive it.

We gave everything we could to stop Weil, didn't we? X exhausted all of his power and faded from existence, and I sacrificed my body to destroy Weil and Ragnarok.

Weil literally destroyed us. X is gone. I'm about to be. I don't know how much longer I'll have consciousness (I would guess a few minutes). The Guardians—along with the Cyber Elf War code—are gone. Neo Arcadia? Wiped off the map—Gone. The Mother Elf? Gone.

So what happens now?

Well, I was always X's failsafe. The backup plan. X had all of these other moving parts and pieces, but I was the main goal. Everything else was just a means to an end. The Resistance, the Guardians, Ceil... they were just there to help me. But now they aren't. X had planned for me to guide the world to peace if he couldn't, but it won't be me.

It will be them. Ceil and the Resistance. They're the ones that will inherit the world now. They were supposed to help me, but really I was the one helping them. Ceil has learned so much from all of this that I have no doubts that the world is in good hands.

But this all makes me wonder…did X know? That the people he used to awake me would be the ones to ensure peace? Surely no one could know that. But could this really have been luck? That the scientist who failed at creating a copy of X would be the same person who would fight for peace?

I would love to believe that this was all part of X's plan. It _could_ make sense; perhaps the Cyber Elf Wars code within the Guardians was about more than keeping me alive. Harpuia once spared Elpizo during Operation Righteous Strike, and I doubt that Harpuia is just a very forgiving person. And when Weil 'revived' Copy X, Harpuia had to answer for why he hadn't crushed the Resistance. It could make sense; Harpuia let the Resistance survive, and in turn Ceil solves the energy crisis. It _is_ possible that the Cyber Elf Wars code entails that.

But personally, it's more fun to believe that this is just luck. That Ceil just so happened to be the right person for the world. That we barely stopped Weil; we took each other out almost perfectly.

As I lay here dying, I chose to believe that it's a mixture of both. Yes, X had a brilliant plan that did work to save the world. But we also got very lucky; Ceil just happened to solve the energy crisis, and I was able to stop both Omega and Weil by myself.

I guess it doesn't really matter. Either way, the world is in good hands. Unlike X, I have the luxury of dying with the full belief that everything will be okay.

Well, actually, X held that belief for me. There never was doubt that I would stop Weil when X left after the Omega fight.

I guess the mark of a true hero is finding someone even better than you to take your place. In that regards, I suppose X and I _are_ heroes after all.


End file.
